gnignis sdrawkcab

December 27, 2007 10:16 AM

Apparently there is no trickery here; just a lot of practice, which allows this guy to sing backwards.

The video reverses halfway through. If you can't stand the suspense, the YouTube tags reveal what the song is. [via]

posted by quin (42 comments total)

"Paul is dead!"
posted by ericb at 10:23 AM on December 27, 2007

I love all the entropy proofs. Also, I guessed the song based on the balloon colors.
posted by DU at 10:23 AM on December 27, 2007

That gum you like is going to come back in style.
posted by Nelson at 10:30 AM on December 27, 2007 [5 favorites]

Not even close to as awesome as this.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 10:30 AM on December 27, 2007 [5 favorites]

Not as good as bad lip-syncing with the help of an editor?
posted by DU at 10:32 AM on December 27, 2007

Where I come from, the birds sing a pretty song.
posted by pax digita at 10:33 AM on December 27, 2007

DU, dude, watch the drummer.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 10:35 AM on December 27, 2007

*hits bong*
posted by Baby_Balrog at 10:35 AM on December 27, 2007

He thought he sounded Icelandic when played in reverse (or forward ... uh, the second part of the video).
posted by itchylick at 10:45 AM on December 27, 2007

*I thought*
posted by itchylick at 10:46 AM on December 27, 2007

John Linnell from TMBG did something similar with two songs - the first Thunderbird (which may be sung by Flansburgh) and the other On Earth My Nina... sing either backwards and it's a portion of the other song... kind of amusing
posted by MildlyDisturbed at 10:51 AM on December 27, 2007

This is the first video in a long time where I actually said out loud "woah."

Turns out I can still be surprised by the internet.
posted by rfbjames at 10:53 AM on December 27, 2007

That was pretty incredible. It's really nice to see something new on the internet. Good post.
posted by TypographicalError at 10:55 AM on December 27, 2007 [2 favorites]

Not even close to as awesome as this.
...which isn't even as close to awesome as this.
posted by carsonb at 11:01 AM on December 27, 2007

I mostly enjoyed all of the tools he employed to indicate that time is going forward, not backward.

And now, I'll spin a ball in a bowl!
posted by shakespeherian at 11:03 AM on December 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

turnmeondeadman
posted by The Deej at 11:07 AM on December 27, 2007

Protip: that gum you like is going to come back into style.
posted by cortex at 11:09 AM on December 27, 2007

Should have bent his arms backwards.
posted by ORthey at 11:11 AM on December 27, 2007

good work. and musicians aping to a backwards recording with a huge pile of money fueling them is not as good!
posted by gorgor_balabala at 11:13 AM on December 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

It's a start. Maybe that whole Iraq thing will look like this in five years.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 11:15 AM on December 27, 2007

Baby_Balrog, carsonb, How is lip syncing backwards cooler than actually singing backwards?
posted by Megafly at 11:25 AM on December 27, 2007 [4 favorites]

It's no "inward singing", that's for sure.
posted by BaxterG4 at 11:27 AM on December 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

Ahem...
posted by Jeff_Larson at 11:30 AM on December 27, 2007 [2 favorites]

I don't get it either, Megafly. And then factor in the edit jumps vs one one continuous take. Plus the authentic, amateur feel (not that the other guys are faking it). It's not even a contest and I'm actually kind of stunned that anyone would say so, not to mention everyone agreeing with it.
posted by DU at 11:31 AM on December 27, 2007

This is pretty awesome too.
posted by infinitewindow at 11:34 AM on December 27, 2007

This is the most awesomest.
posted by tkchrist at 11:52 AM on December 27, 2007

How is lip syncing backwards cooler than actually singing backwards?

I liked the posted video, and the Stairway one is excellent as well. I thought Baby_Balrog's choice of video was funny as there are obviously a number of reversed music videos to choose from going back quite some time, and I just couldn't resist aping his comment style. My mistake. Adding videos to a single-link video MeFi post is a storied tradition, and it is within that tradition that I add Drop. FWIW, the Pharcyde studied hard to learn the reverse of their song for the video. They probably didn't reverse the tune, as it's a rap, but those guys could do their parts forwards and backwards. That's impressive to me, though The Pharcyde's impressiveness takes nothing away from the impressiveness of this guy singing backwards.

Sorry I didn't answer your question more directly, but I just get the giggles whenever someone says 'awesome'. tee hee
posted by carsonb at 11:54 AM on December 27, 2007

.. and this, right near the end (2:52).
posted by jozxyqk at 12:03 PM on December 27, 2007

That was great. But the trick is that he has a LOT of free time.

I'm hoping for the next song he tackles Reunion's "Life Is A Rock But the Radio Rolled Me".
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 12:13 PM on December 27, 2007

go hang a salami, i'm a lasagna hog
posted by TechnoLustLuddite at 12:29 PM on December 27, 2007 [2 favorites]

Great, now the clock on my PC is all fucked up.
posted by not_on_display at 12:44 PM on December 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

This one is totally my favorite.
posted by miss lynnster at 12:45 PM on December 27, 2007

This one is totally my favorite.

Man, how did all those people sing backwards for such a sustained period? Wait, that was forwards? Jesus Scandanavia is weird.
posted by Pollomacho at 1:02 PM on December 27, 2007

3 minute Ikea ads?
posted by wfc123 at 1:07 PM on December 27, 2007

Speaking of that new gum you like and bending arms back...?

I've got a fever. And the only prescription? Is more dancing dwarves.
posted by miss lynnster at 1:24 PM on December 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

I think it's telling that both the video of the OP and the one Jeff_Larson linked to are sung by, apparently, non-english speakers. I would guess that if you're going to learn a song phonetically (like I'm told many nordic bands are apt to do), it makes no real difference to learn it forward or backward.
posted by Dave Faris at 1:35 PM on December 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

How weird. I know the drummer for Mute Math and their soundguy is a really good friend of mine.
posted by sourwookie at 2:33 PM on December 27, 2007

Whoa, he totally catches those sunglasses with his face.
posted by dhartung at 3:29 PM on December 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

Naturally, I approve of all of this.
posted by sdrawkcab at 3:37 PM on December 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

How is lip syncing backwards cooler than actually singing backwards?

Lip syncing backwards... not so much. But drumming backwards? Tough call.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:08 PM on December 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

Radiohead's "Like Spinning Plates" off Amnesiac is another weird backwards/forwards song; Thom Yorke sang it forwards and played it backwards so he could learn how to sing it backwards in the studio. On the version on the record, he sang backwards and reversed it, so he's singing forwards... but oddly. The whole thing is laid over the reversed melody of "I Will", a song that was on Hail To The Thief.

In summation: man sings backwards, studio reverses it to be forwards, laid over reversed backing track from a song not yet released.

And, of course, when they play the song live, it's just Thom and the piano - the first time they did so (Chicago, 2002, IIRC) the bootleg has the entire crowd collectively gasping in surprise when they realize what's being played.
posted by heeeraldo at 8:28 PM on December 27, 2007

Interesting, heeeraldo. And that video of "Like Spinning Plates" contains another interesting illusion--three dimensional time exposures. They must have used a lineup of hundreds of still cameras to record those time exposed light drawings from various angles, then "painted" the columns, figures, and background with a lamp, and finally run the stills together like a movie.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 1:08 AM on December 30, 2007 [3 favorites]